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Ursula K LeGuin on the japanese animated movie version of the Easthsea books:My purpose in making most of the people of Earthsea colored, and the whites a marginal and rather backward people, was of course a moral one, aimed at young American and European readers. Fantasy heroes of the European tradition were conventionally white — just about universally so in 1968 — and darkness of skin was often associated with evil. By simply subverting an expectation, a novelist can undermine a prejudice.The makers of the American TV version, while boasting that they were “color blind,” reduced the colored population of Earthsea to one and a half. I have blasted them for whitewashing Earthsea, and do not forgive them for it.

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But in the film, evil has been comfortably externalized in a villain, the wizard Kumo/Cob, who can simply be killed, thus solving all problems.In modern fantasy (literary or governmental), killing people is the usual solution to the so-called war between good and evil. My books are not conceived in terms of such a war, and offer no simple answers to simplistic questions.

On a more serious note, Chuck Norris explains to us that he is not, in fact, invincible, whatever his tough guy roles may have led you to believe. It is Jesus, not Chuck Norris, who is capable of all these awesome things.

Again, I’m flattered and amazed by the way I’ve become a fascinating public figure for a whole new generation of young people around the world. But I am not the characters I play. And even the toughest characters I have played could never measure up to the real power in this universe.

8 Comments to “Links and such”

Changing Planes. It’s readable and very enjoyable but one has to read carefully to understand the many things she is trying to say. I often find myself going back to reread passages, and once I finish the book, I am going to promptly reread it.

Ah, the sale! I arrived too late (Thank you NSO! On second thoughts-I got 20 hours, so thank you NSO indeed :) ) One table of discarded books remained. Most of the good ones were already gone, and at the price, one would probably get better books in Daryaganj.

Not amazingly relevant, but the Chuck Norris quote reminds me of the William Shatner song “Real,” the chorus of which is:

And while there’s a part of meIn that guy you’ve seenUp there on that screenI am so much moreAnd I wish I knew the things you think I doI would change this world for sureBut I eat and sleep and breathe and bleed and feelSorry to disappoint youBut I’m real